


Testify

by blackjacktheboss



Series: mob au [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 12:52:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15641133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackjacktheboss/pseuds/blackjacktheboss
Summary: Falling in love is complicated enough without being a mob boss.





	Testify

The fire in her office was already crackling when Annabeth arrived. She leaned on her desk as she stepped out of her black louboutin heels one at a time, sighing with the relief of being barefoot.

She walked over to the drink cart that sat in the corner of the room, delicately removing the top of the whiskey bottle she had been fantasizing about all day.

As the amber liquid splashed into a glass, Annabeth suddenly felt a presence behind her.

“Are you actually gonna come in or are you just gonna lurk in the doorway like a weirdo?”

Charles stepped into the light of the office. “I just thought I’d come check on you.”

Annabeth turned towards her old friend and head of security, taking a long sip of her drink before answering. “I’m fine.”

Charles shook his head lightly and stepped further into the room. “Are we really gonna play this game?”

“I don’t play games, Charles. I win them.”

“Did you get that line from some How To Be A Badass manual?”

Annabeth laughed lightly. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

She walked towards the fireplace, sliding gracefully into a perfectly worn in leather chair that had belonged to her mother. It had been almost 8 years since Annabeth inherited the chair and her mother’s business empire, which ran along the Eastern seaboard and had connections in various countries around the world. To most people, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Athena was a captivating one, but to Annabeth it was a hard truth. Her mother was gone and she was left alone to carry the weight of her mother’s legacy.

Charles took the seat next to her, both of them staring into the fire without exchanging a word for several minutes. He watched from the corner of his eye as Annabeth took long, slow sips of her whiskey, a blank expression on her face.

Most people found her unreadable but to Charles, Annabeth was like an open book.

“How’d he look?” Charles asked, finally breaking the silence.

Annabeth continued to stare into the fire. “The same way he always looked. Handsome and haunted.”

Annabeth made her way through the labyrinthian library, running her hands along the cool cherrywood of the bookshelves as she went.

Finally, after a seemingly endless serpentine through the stacks, she arrived at the Classics section. This enclave had been her absolute favorite since her mother first commissioned the library, telling Annabeth every minute detail of the design before construction even began. From the gold leaf crown moulding along the ceiling, to the subtle owl carvings on the bookshelves, down to the olive leaf pattern on the carpets, Athena’s vision had been executed down to a tee. And now there Annabeth sat, in the center of her mother’s grand scheme. _Just like she wanted. Well… in the end, anyway_ , she thought.

Annabeth ran her fingers gingerly over the leather spines of the books until she reached the one she was looking for: Symposium by Plato. Plucking it from it’s shelf like a ripe apple, Annabeth sat in her favorite chair of the whole library and opened the book, ready to devour it.

The minutes ticked by and Annabeth couldn’t help but revel in the alone time, which was becoming more and more rare as the days went on. No security guards hovering in the background, no eerie feeling of being watched. Of course it was because her team had complete control of the building making such precautions unnecessary, but that was beside the point. When she was at the library, she could be just another nineteen year old girl who loved to read. That was all she wanted to be, sometimes.

Her reverie was interrupted by someone clearing their throat, and Annabeth looked up to find a pair of blue eyes looking back at her.

“Sorry to interrupt your reading, but I just…”

“You just?” she continued, feeling impatient.

The stranger laughed. “Sorry, it’s embarrassing. I’m.. kind of…”

“Lost?” 

“Uh, yeah,” he said, chuckling nervously.

Without getting up, Annabeth pointed to the side of the bookshelf. “Do you see that carving right there?”

The stranger turned and ran his hand over the small shape of an owl. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s also your way out.”

“Excuse me?”

She surrendered to the fact that they were now having a conversation and put down her book. “I mean that if you follow the bookshelves that have that carving, you’ll find your way out. They’re designed to.. Highlight the path, you could say.”

“Pretty cool!” he exclaimed, letting his hand fall from the carving as he turned back towards Annabeth. “You must, uh, spend a lot of time at the library if you know that, huh?”

Annabeth untucked her leg from underneath her and sat up straight. While normally she would have gone back to reading, there was something about this man who stood in front of her that she found intriguing, though she couldn’t quite place what it was.

“Um, yeah, kind of. There’s a, uh, book up front that has the story of the library with a bunch of facts about it,” she bluffed.

There it was. That instinct to be dishonest that her mother had implanted her with. Even when a beautiful man asked her a simple question, she couldn’t help but weave in a small untruth. _It is best that anyone you meet know as little about you as possible,_ she could hear her mother saying. _That is how you stay safe._

“Oh, cool,” he said, his eyes darting around the space.

Just as Annabeth was about to give up and go back to her book, the stranger cleared his throat again.

“I’m Luke by the way,” he said, stepping forward and extending his hand to her.

“I’m Annabeth,” she replied, shaking his hand in return.

He held on to her hand for longer than necessary, but Annabeth didn’t mind in the least. _He has a great handshake,_ she thought. His touch sent a shockwave through Annabeth, who now found herself inexplicably drawn to this man.  

“So, Annabeth…” he trailed off, saying her name carefully like it was something fragile, “Would you maybe show me how to get out of this library and... grab a coffee with me?”

Annabeth considered the man standing in front of her: tall, _six foot? Maybe six one?;_ Sandy-blonde hair, _I wonder what it would feel like to run my fingers through it;_  a mischievous smile, _I wouldn’t mind kissing those lips;_ hands shoved into his pockets, _Shy, but confident. A hard combo to accomplish;_ and blue eyes that seemed to sparkle as he looked at her pleadingly, _I could look into these forever_.

Giving Symposium a quick glance, she decided Pluto had been around for a thousand years and could probably stand to wait another day while she got a coffee with a cute boy. (Her first coffee with a cute boy, in fact).

As Annabeth headed out of the library with Luke, being discreetly tailed by her team of bodyguards, Charles watched the security footage from a laptop and squinted at the screen, trying desperately to remember where he had seen this stranger before.

* * *

 

One Week Before The Library 

It was almost 2am and Luke stood in the alleyway behind O’Malley’s bar smoking a cigarette. Between puffs, he looked at his wristwatch almost compulsively, wondering if the second hand was actually moving slower than it should be or if it was just his imagination.

At promptly 2:05, a large blacked out SUV pulled up in the alley, and Luke tossed his cigarette into the darkness before approaching. Before Luke could knock, the window began to lower, nothing but two shadowy figures visible in the back. Without a word, a manila file was handed to Luke and he opened it to see several surveillance pictures of himself.

“You disappoint me, Luke,” said a menacing voice from inside the car. “When you first came to work for me, you made certain promises. Promises that I’m having a hard time believing you’ll be able to keep.”

“Sir, I-” 

“I’m not finished,” the man said, his tone impatient. “Now, my sources tell me the new director of Internal Affairs is out for blood and the department’s got eyes on you. They don’t have anything solid yet, but they’re not far off.”

Luke’s mouth went dry and he swallowed hard, trying desperately to remain calm and collected. “I think I’ve got something. Something big enough to make it so that the only reason anyone will wanna look at me is to give me a medal.” He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

The sound of a lighter interrupted the silence, the flame illuminating profile of the man inside. Luke had only seen him a handful of times, with his long, pointy beard and slicked back hair. People said he was a boxer in his young days, which is why his nose curved slightly to the right. But his most unnerving feature was his eyes. They looked different every time Luke saw him, but tonight, in the light of the fire they seemed to shine a deep gold, sending a shiver down Luke’s spine. A cloud of cigar smoke soon emerged from the inside of the car, and Luke tried to suppress a cough as it floated right into his face.

“I hope you’re right, Lucas. I would hate to see things get unnecessarily messy. Speaking of which, remind me: is the name of where your mother lives Shadybrook or Shadygrove? I always forget.”

The color drained from Luke’s face as the man’s words sunk in. Suddenly a deep belly laugh rang out from the SUV.

“Relax, kid. It was just a question. I was just thinking of sending her some flowers. She likes flowers, doesn’t she?” 

Luke swallowed hard, unable to summon any words.

Again, a laugh. “This is your chance to clean up your mess, Lucas. Because I think we both know how this ends if I have to do it. And it would be a shame to see all of your hard work from these last few years go to waste.”

Luke swallowed hard and tried to hand the file back through the window.

“Keep it,” the voice said. “Let it serve as… motivation.”

Luke didn’t have to see his boss’ face to know that a sinister smile was spread across it.

“What do you say when someone gives you a gift, Lucas?” the man asked.

“Th- Thank you, Mr. K.”

Another large puff of smoke floated towards Luke as the window began to roll back up. “See you soon, kid.”

* * *

Annabeth paced back and forth in her mother’s office, waiting anxiously for her men to return with news of the latest shipment. The past few months had been impossibly difficult, as Athena’s once flawless organization now seemed to be falling apart at the seams under Annabeth’s leadership. The last two shipments had somehow been intercepted by local authorities, leaving Annabeth scrambling to make up for the massive monetary losses and fighting to keep control of a staff who were starting to talk. _She always made it look so easy. Why can’t I do this?_

A light knock on the door interrupted the flurry of thoughts running through Annabeth’s mind, and she called out for whoever it was to enter. Charles strode in holding a manila file, his face betraying Annabeth’s fear: something had yet again gone wrong.

“How much did we lose?” she blurted out.

“Somehow we got the entire shipment off the docks and to the warehouse, but two of your best guys are currently being interrogated down at the police station.”

“What the hell did they get grabbed for if the cops didn’t find the shipment?”

Charles sighed. “They got pinched on some bullshit trespassing charges, but the fact that anyone got caught-” 

“I know, Charles!” Annabeth shouted, her frustration getting the better of her. She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “I know how it looks.” _Like I’m just some dumb kid who can’t handle the big leagues._

Charles shook his head. “We’re at the end our rope here, Annabeth. If we don’t straighten this shit out, things are gonna start getting dangerous around here.”

Annabeth forced a laugh, trying to diffuse some of her stress. “Charles, I’m effectively a mob boss, aren’t things supposed to be dangerous around here?”

“Not like this,” he said curtly.

Annabeth turned her back to him and poured herself a drink.  “Say it.”

“Say what?”

She swallowed her drink in one gulp, grimacing as it went down. “Whatever it is you’ve been trying to talk to me about all week. You think I don’t notice you biting your tongue every time you talk to me? Just spit it out, Charles.”

It was Charles’s turn to take a deep breath. “You’re not gonna like it.”

“I already don’t like this conversation, so you may as well pile it on,” she said, throwing herself down into her mother’s favorite chair dejectedly.

Charles sat down in the chair across from Annabeth before handing her the mysterious folder he had walked in with. She finished the last of her drink, slamming the glass down onto the small table between the chairs before grabbing the file from Charles. She held her breath as she opened it, her heart beginning to race as her eyes took in the sight of a familiar face sitting in a car talking to a detective she knew had spent years investigating her mother.

“I don’t- I don’t understand, Charles,” she said, her throat going dry.

  
Sandy blonde hair. Blue eyes. Strong jawline. Overall look of contempt for the world.

She didn’t want to believe it.

“The day you met him, I had this feeling that I knew him from somewhere and I just couldn’t shake it.. then last month it hit me. Remember my first day on the job when I got arrested cause I matched the description of that liquor store robbery?”

Annabeth nodded, “The one time you didn’t actually do anything.”

“Turn the page,” he instructed.

Annabeth turned to the next page in the file and saw what appeared to be an arrest report.

“Look at the signature at the bottom,” Charles said.

Luke Castellan, Detective.

Charles removed a small piece of paper from his jacket pocket and placed it on top of the page. Annabeth’s eyes scanned up to find the note that had been attached to the dozen red roses Luke had sent her the week before.

LC signed in the exact same handwriting as the report. Annabeth could feel her heart beating in her throat.

“My guy in IA sent me the rest of those papers, which are the evidence they have so far that Luke’s a dirty cop,” Charles continued. “I hate to have to tell you this. You know I hate seeing you hurt but… you deserve the full truth.”

“Why are we just finding out about this? I thought you vetted him in the beginning?” she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

“Apparently, he’s deep undercover, meaning the department went to pretty extreme lengths to protect his real identity and build him a fake one. I didn’t know what to look for before but once I remembered he was a cop, it just kind of… unfolded.” 

Annabeth stood abruptly, suddenly unable to breathe. _Luke’s last name was Cole, not Castellan. He’s got a tech support job which he loves cause he can make his own schedule. He used to fence. He hates his dad. Things with his mom are complicated. Just like me._

“Charles, I- This can’t be-”

He stood to meet her gaze. “I’m sorry, Annabeth. I know your mind is probably racing right now but I need to know, what have you told him about yourself?”

Annabeth looked at Charles, trying to focus her mind. “Um- just that I work for a family business.” 

“So you never told him specifics?”

“No.. no. Not ever. I kept everything vague like you and mom taught me.”

Charles exhaled. “Good. So we don’t have to worry about you being incriminated on tape or anything.”

 They stood in silence for several moments, Annabeth’s mind racing to connect all the dots. She could feel Charles watching her, knowing that he would love nothing more than to protect her from all the emotional pain like he does with the physical. But there was no hiding from this pain, which started in her chest and was now spreading through her whole body, making it impossible to think.

“Charles, I don’t know what to do,” she said, her voice panicky.

Since taking over the business, Annabeth had felt her mother’s shadow looming over her more than ever. Now it was as if she was drowning and there were no lifeboats in sight. 

Athena was a decisive leader who saw everything in black and white. And if any gray area happened to pop-up, she would dissect it with surgical precision until she could comfortably categorize it. Annabeth didn’t know if she could be that kind of leader. _How could I not have seen this,_ she asked herself.

Charles grabbed Annabeth by the shoulders, looking into her clouded gray eyes. “You’re Annabeth Chase. So do what your mother raised you to do. Do what you do best. Fight back.”

Looking into the eyes of her trusted friend and advisor, Annabeth felt a deep rage settle into her. She remembered all the times Luke had ended dates abruptly, with paper thin excuses. How he always left the room to take a phone call. How he never looked her in the eyes when she asked about his work. _She picked me for a reason_ , her mind raced. _She could have chosen Charles or anyone else to take over but she left it to me… that has to mean something_.

Annabeth sat back down and began methodically flipping through the file on Luke. She pushed aside her feelings, something her mother had painstakingly taught her to do, and looked at the file for a weapon. _In this business, you have to be able to weaponize anything, especially information_ , her mother’s voice echoed in a memory. _Remember, the business is a chessboard, and anyone in your way is a pawn to be taken. Now, what piece does that make you?_

Annabeth sat back in her mother’s chair, or rather her chair now, and focused in on a particular piece of paper. She read it carefully several times, cross checking information with some of the other papers in the file. Finally, she handed an Internal Affairs report over to Charles along with one of the surveillance photos.

“So what do you think?” she asked, her eyes cold and distant. 

Charles matched her smile with one of his own, “I think I’ll bring the car around.”

_That makes me the queen_ , she had told her mother.

* * *

Luke had had countless nightmares about walking through his own precinct in handcuffs, but he never imagined how much worse the reality of it could be. The cuffs pinched the skin on his wrists, giving it a slight burning sensation. Every cop who walked past him looked down at him with disgust. _As if you’ve never done things you’re not proud of on this job,_ he thought. _I did what I had to do to survive. You don’t know me._  

The arresting officer had a firm grip on Luke’s arm, jerking him back to indicate that he should stop walking. 

“Cool it, Kowalski. I get it. I’m under arrest.” 

Detective Kowalski spun Luke around and looked at him with disdain. “What was that, dirty cop?” he spat.

Luke matched Kowalski’s glare, suddenly feeling incredulous. “You’ve got nothing on me.” 

“Sit your ass down, Castellan,” Kowalski said, practically shoving Luke into a chair next to a desk.

Kowalski then took his own seat before rolling towards Luke so they were eye level and a foot apart. “I know you think you’re untouchable. That you’ve been too careful for any of this to possibly be happening. But hear me when I tell you we’ve got something you didn’t account for and we’re gonna use it to take you down.”

Luke smiled mischievously. “If you wanted to go down on me, Kowalski, all you had to do was ask.” 

Before Kowalski could respond, a hand clapped down on Luke’s shoulder. He turned to see Detective Fletcher smiling down at him.

“Hope you’ve got a good defense attorney, Castellan, cause shit is about to get real for you,” Detective Fletcher said with a chuckle.

Despite the typical loudness of precinct chatter, Luke’s attention was suddenly drawn by a sound that had become all too familiar to him over the past few months. The clack of stiletto heels against the tiled floors became louder, and Luke turned to see something truly unexpected. _There’s no way,_ he thought.  

But there she was: Annabeth Chase walking through a police precinct with a three officer escort as she wiped tears from her face. All eyes were on her as she turned slightly to her right and made eye contact with Luke, her gray eyes cold and distant. She burst into another round of tears and the officers rushed her out of the room, each of them moving to shield her from Luke’s view.

Detective Fletcher leaned down so his mouth was inches away from Luke’s ear. “I believe you know our star witness.”

_Fuck._

* * *

People were calling it the trial of the decade. Hundreds of reporters and spectators alike swarmed the courthouse, wanting a glimpse at the dirty cop who stood accused of blackmail, racketeering, kidnapping, and an assortment of weapons charges.

The courtroom itself was jam packed, and the judge spent the majority of the trial slamming her gavel in an attempt to maintain some semblance of order. The prosecution paraded an array of physical evidence that tied Luke to various crimes throughout the city, but nothing was more convincing than Annabeth.

She was present every day of the trial, sitting behind the District Attorney who decided to handle the case herself. Luke did his best not to look at Annabeth, but a morbid curiosity often got the better of him. While he had known her to be the most emotionally reserved person he had ever met, in the courtroom it was like she was someone else entirely. Every piece of evidence caused some new look of anguish to flash across her face. Tears flowed freely and often, one of the large men sitting on either side of her always with a tissue ready. _God, she’s good,_ he couldn’t help but think.  

Finally, on the last day that the prosecution was presenting evidence, they called Annabeth to the stand. Luke could immediately tell that everything she had been doing while sitting front and center in court had been laying the groundwork for her testimony, which would be her piece de resistance.

_If these people only knew who she really was._

But they didn’t. And they likely never would. The Annabeth Chase on the stand was a meek and emotional woman who had been blindsided when she discovered the misdeeds of her cop boyfriend.

“I thought- I thought he was a good man,”  she struggled to say. “I thought we were building a life together but it… it turns out he was just using me.”

Luke had been around the court system enough to see that the jury was hanging on her every word. They looked at him with a new kind of distaste, the kind that said _how could you break this poor girl’s heart? What kind of monster are you?_ Part of him agreed with them. Seeing her up on the stand, seemingly pouring her heart out and risking her life to send a criminal to prison tugged at what was left of his heart. _Maybe I got the wrong girl,_ he considered for a flash. _No! No. What the fuck am I thinking?! That’s her. It’s her….. fuck, she’s good._  

Luke’s closing defense was quick and short. He was the son of a well-to-do business man and a teacher. He had been a shining star at the police academy. A rookie who became detective in record time and, before his arrest, had one of the highest case closure rates in the state.

“This is a good man,” his lawyer told the jury. “He has risked his life for years to protect the people of this city, and believe me we need a lot of protecting.”

His lawyer mentioned that Luke had alibis for several of the crimes he was being accused of (the strength of said alibis need not be discussed), and that Annabeth Chase was nothing more than an ex girlfriend who wanted payback for her broken heart.

_Well, he’s not totally wrong,_ Luke thought.

After only three hours, the jury returned with Luke’s fate in their hands.

“Has the jury reached a verdict?” the judge asked. 

“We have your honor,” the foreman replied, glancing nervously over at Luke. 

_Goddamnit,_ he thought.  

“On the charge of kidnapping, we the jury find the defendant guilty. On the charge of racketeering, we find the defendant guilty…”

The list went on and on. 

Luke sat blank faced, unable to hear whatever plaintive statements his lawyer was whispering into his ear. All he could hear was the roar of the courtroom, thinking that must have been what it was like to be a gladiator. _A roar of applause before death. What a way to go._

Slowly he turned to look at Annabeth, needing to see if she was celebrating his downfall. She sat with her legs crossed towards him, hands typing away on her phone. When she was done, she handed it to one of the men who sat beside her, and met Luke’s gaze. 

Checkmate, she mouthed, before getting up and once again starting to cry. As the guards handcuffed Luke and began to lead him out of the room, all he could do was watch as the sea of people parted for Annabeth, coming back together as soon as she passed. 

_She may as well be the moon, the way she controls the tides,_ he thought, as her blonde curls disappeared. _I never stood a chance._

* * *

As she stepped out of the courthouse and into the afternoon sun, Annabeth felt as though she had passed some sort of initiation. Until this point, she had been unsure of taking over her mother’s business. Something about it made her feel as though she were nothing more than a little girl playing grown up. But now… now she had weathered her first storm and come out on the other side. She had remembered the lessons her mother taught her and used them to keep herself and her people safe.

_At the end of the day, that is the true test of your power,_ she could hear her mother saying _. If you can walk away calmly from any situation, no sirens or cops chasing after you, no fear of going home… that's when you’ve won._  

She couldn’t help but smile, laughing lightly as the sun warmed her face like a tender kiss. A large blacked out SUV waited for her at the curb, and as she got closer, Charles emerged from the passenger seat to open the back door for her.

“Looks like we’ve got an audience,” Charles said, nodding back towards the courthouse. 

Annabeth turned to see a uniformed officer watching her intently. His blonde hair made her think it was Luke for half a second, but this officer was different.

Luke carried himself like someone with something to prove. He was confident but stood in a way that betrayed his insecurities. And his eyes… his eyes were always tinted with rage. The kind that makes people do reckless things.

This man was different. He appeared to be about Annabeth’s age, and she had seen him in the courtroom throughout the trial. He was sure of himself in the way that most young men are. But unlike most young men, Annabeth could tell he wasn’t afraid of asking questions. Not surface level questions that he secretly knew the answer to, but real questions. Big questions. The kind that a young officer could spend his entire career trying to answer.

Annabeth, feeling emboldened by her victory, gave the officer a quick wave and a smile before climbing into the back of her car. From behind the tinted window she could see the officer take out a notepad and write something down before shuffling back into the courthouse.

“Charles.”

“Yes, Annabeth?”

“Find out who that officer was for me. I want a full dossier by tonight.”

“Any particular reason?” Charles asked.

 “I don’t trust blondes,” she said with a wicked smile, putting on her sunglasses. “Now let's go home. I need a fuckin drink.”

* * *

“Castellan, you’ve got a visitor!” a guard shouted from outside Luke’s cell. 

Luke rose from his bunk to see a stocky figure standing just beyond the bars. “I thought visitors day was canceled?” 

The guard stepped closer to the bars. “Like I said, you’ve got a visitor.”

The walk from his cell to the visiting rooms was always a long one. The shouts and threats being hurled at him by people he put in prison and people who just didn’t like cops were never ending.

When they reached the door of the visiting room, Luke assumed to position so the guard could remove his handcuffs.

“Do me a favor when you’re in there, Castellan. Tell her Marty sends his regards.”

Luke didn’t have time to clarify before he was shoved into the small and painfully bright room, usually reserved for legal visits. He shielded his eyes as they adjusted to the harsh fluorescent lighting and the bright white linoleum flooring. When he was finally able to open his eyes comfortably, his stomach dropped as the guard’s words settled in. _Tell_ **_her_ ** _Marty sends his regards._

He turned back to the door, hoping the guard would still be there but the usually occupied hallway was empty. 

“Don’t bother,” she said. “They all took a much needed break.” 

Luke swallowed hard before turning back around. “Annabeth. Long time, no see.”

Annabeth sat on the other end of a metal table, legs crossed with her hands on her knee. “What’s it been? A few months?” 

“Thirteen, actually,” he said, taking the seat opposite his ex. “But you already knew that.” 

She smiled. “Had to let things die down. You understand.”

“All this for little old me, huh? You sure know how to make a guy feel special.”  

“Didn't want anyone to spoil our reunion,” she said with a shrug. “Hope you don’t mind.” 

“You do realize these rooms have cameras and mics?” He asked. 

Annabeth looked up at the three cameras in the room, and back at Luke. “You’d be surprised how often those things malfunction. Prisons are tragically underfunded, you know.” 

Realizing it was truly just the two of them in this room, Luke sat back in his chair, and crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you want, Annabeth?”

“I want to talk.”

“C’mon, you know talking was never our strong suit.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Glad to see prison hasn’t completely robbed you of your charm.”

“It’s important to work to maintain my identity as an individual while I’m in prison. At least, that’s what the social worker tells me. Might be something for you to keep in mind considering you’ll be behind bars soon enough.”

“Oh is that right?” she said with a laugh. 

“Yeah, it is. Everything that caught up with me is gonna catch up with you sooner or later.”

“You’re forgetting one crucial detail, Luke, the only thing that caught up with you **was me**.”

They sat in tense silence for several moments, neither breaking eye contact. Annabeth shifted in her seat, leaning forward to rest her arms on the table. Luke could feel her taking him, appraising everything from the bags under his eyes down to his posture. _She never stops._  

“You know, when people said that scar ran all the way down the left side of your face, I thought it was an exaggeration but… I guess Mr. K really wanted to communicate a message.”

“How did you kno-“ 

“I’m a smart woman, Luke. You of all people should have realized that by now. So let’s not worry about how I know things, and instead just focus on the fact that I know them.”

Luke smiled, no longer having the energy to hide how impressed he was by her. This was the most fun he’d had in months. “Fine. Then let’s go over what I know first, just so everyone is all caught up.” Annabeth nodded, signaling for him to continue. “Your name is Annabeth Chase and your mother was Athena, one of the most formidable mob bosses in the country. You took over for her after her mysterious disappearance last year but struggled to establish yourself as a power. As a result, you’ve been in a territory battle with Mr. K, your mom’s former mentor. How am I doing?” 

“Pretty good, though I think my mother would have preferred you call her the **most** formidable mob boss in the country.”

“My apologies.”

“That’s alright. Please, carry on.”

“Now when we met, you were losing the war and considering cutting your losses all together, but now you’ve retaken your mother’s territory and Mr. K is scrambling to stay competitive.”

“Why do you assume I was considering cutting my losses when we met?”

“Because after we fucked for the first time, you asked me if I ever thought about running away from it all.”

“Wow, using pillow talk as intel. Looks like I’m not the only smart one in the room.”

“Yeah, well, you can take the cop out of the uniform...” 

“Getting you out of your uniform was much easier than I anticipated.” 

“What can I say, I’m an easy lay,” he shrugged. 

Annabeth smiled, “I was actually referring to when I framed you and you lost your credibility, career, and pension in less than a month.”

Luke glared at Annabeth, wondering how he could have ever thought the beautiful monster sitting across from him would be an easy mark. “Your turn.”

“Luke Castellan, twenty-nine years old. Son of a businessman and a well-known linguistics professor. When you were twenty-five your mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s which is when you learned just how small a cop’s paycheck really is. That’s when you started taking side jobs, eventually becoming employed by Mr. K. How am i doing?”

“Pretty good.” 

“This past year, internal affairs started poking around some of your cases and so to try and derail the investigation you went undercover to infiltrate and dismantle the alleged crime organization left behind by Athena. Your mark was me, Annabeth Chase, the daughter of said alleged crime lord, and through surveilling her you were able to disrupt her business, for however short a time.”

“I was wrong about you,” he said, tapping his fingers on the metal table. 

She winked. “Back at ya.”

He looked into her eyes, wondering what it was that she was thinking. “What specifically did you come here to talk about?”

“I want all the information you have on Mr. K.”

Luke laughed. “You can’t be serious.” 

“When have you known me to be a kidder?” 

“Do you know what he’ll do to me if he finds out I helped you? It’ll be a hell of a lot worse than this scar, I can tell you that.”

“I’ll protect you.”

Luke leaned forward dramatically. “Annabeth, I was a cop, okay? I know when someone can and can’t be protected. In here, I’m as good as dead.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Do you see any guards in this room? No. Do you know why? Because Mr. K isn’t the only one with friends.”

“Why should I help you? Like you said, you’re the only reason I’m in here.”

“I never said I was the only reason you were in here. We both know your story was always gonna end in prison or in a morgue.” 

“You didn’t answer my question,” Luke said, choosing to ignore Annabeth’s harsh (but true) words. “Why. Should. I. Help. You?”

“Because you loved me once, Luke. Somewhere between stalking me at the library and seeing me cry in that precinct, you loved me. In your own fake and fucked up way, but you loved me. And I- I loved you back. So I’m… I’m asking you to help me.” 

Luke’s eyes dropped down to the metal table, where a distorted reflection of his face stared back at him. This was not the first time he struggled to recognize his reflection, but it was the first time he felt like he could do something to change it. He looked back up at Annabeth and took her in. Her beautiful golden curls, how her eyes shined, the shape of her lips, the red of her fingernails. 

He took a deep breath, realizing this was his chance to do right by her. Maybe she didn’t deserve it, but from the moment he had orchestrated their first meeting, he could feel there was something different about her. Something that made him feel reckless.  

“Fine,” he said. “What is it you wanna know?” 

* * *

“So the hearing went well then?” Charles asked.

“Not for Luke, it didn’t,” Annabeth said plainly.

Charles paused for a moment, wanting to choose his words carefully. “Did he realize why it didn’t go his way?” 

Annabeth nodded. “After he explained to the board how he’s a changed man and he’s better than he was, he turned and he saw me. As soon as we made eye contact I think he realized what would happen.” 

Charles reached for Annabeth’s glass and stole a sip of her drink. “Do you think he meant it? That maybe he really is a better person?”

Annabeth shrugged as she took her drink back. “Don’t know. Don’t really care. Right now, him getting out would complicate things too much. And he’s complicated things enough for a lifetime. He had his chance to be better and honest, and he didn’t take it. You had to do it for him.”

Charles let her words hang in the air for a bit, wanting to be intentional with his response.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever forgiven me for that,” Charles admitted, his voice impossibly soft.

Annabeth finally looked away from the fire and at her best (perhaps only) friend in the world. “Forgiven you for what?”

“Breaking your heart,” he said, turning to look back at her. 

Annabeth shook her head, “He did that all on his own, Charles. All you did was tell me the truth. All you did was your job.”

She sat back in her chair, once again transfixed by the fire.

“That’s the first time you’ve admitted that, ya know?”

“Admitted what?”

“That he broke your heart.” 

Annabeth didn’t respond, and instead took another long sip of her drink. When she went to take another, she found it empty and frowned.

“Refill?” Charles asked.

Annabeth simply nodded, words eluding her, and handed him her glass.

With a refreshed drink, she held the glass between both hands and stared into its amber depths. “Do you think he ever really loved me, Charles?” 

“As much as he could, yeah.”

Again, she nodded, the words getting stuck in her throat.

He had been hiding from this conversation for years, the fear of a distance between the two of them too much to face. But now here it was, staring them in the face.

“So… do you forgive me?” Charles continued.

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she said, leaning forward and reaching a hand out to touch his arm. 

Charles placed his hand over hers, and looked up at her face. “We can still kill him, you know.”

Annabeth laughed. A deep belly laugh that sent her back into her chair, a happy tear escaping the corner of her eye. “I’ll be sure to put ‘Luke’s dead body’ on my Christmas list this year, thanks.” 

Charles smiled, always happy to provide the woman who was like a sister to him with a moment of lightness, a rarity in their heavy lives. 

“Anytime, kid,” he said with a wink. “Now, let’s talk about this new place of yours.”

“Oh, yes!” Annabeth said, perking up.

“Remind me where it is?” 

“Oh it’s this absolutely gorgeous place on the beach in Montauk.”

**Author's Note:**

> this wouldn't have been possible without Hannah so generously donating her time to edit my hot ass mess of a rough draft. Bless her.


End file.
